Beat computer viruses with NOD32 - Tutorial 4 - The manual computer virus scan revisited

Please note:- These tutorials are for the old NOD32 Version 2 only. This has been superseded by the much improved NOD32 version 3. Version 3 of NOD32 is not compatible with Windows 98/ME however, so we are leaving these tutorials in-place for anyone running a legacy Windows operating system.

In the previous tutorial, we showed you how to access NOD32's on-demand computer virus scan facility and use it to check all the files on your computer. In this tutorial, we will go back over the options we set and explain them in more detail. You can use this tutorial as a reference if you forget how to set up the on-demand scanner.

Firstly, let's take another look at the Scanning targets tab:-

(Click on the picture above for a larger view)

This is the tab where you tell NOD32 which drives you want to scan. This can be any drive attached to your computer, or even a network drive if we tick the "Network" box near the top right of the window. You can even choose to scan individual files or folders by clicking "Add...". When you do this, the following window will appear:-

Here you can click on "Folder..." to add a folder or "File..." to add an individual file. Clicking on "Folder..." brings up a file navigator window like this:-

Here you can browse to the folder you want to scan.

Note: You can also scan a file or folder by browsing to it through "my computer" and then right clicking and choosing "NOD32 antivirus system" as shown in the picture below. Starting the computer virus scan this way is often more convenient than loading the on-demand scanner.

If you have a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM disk that you want to perform a computer virus scan on, scan it separately from your other disks. Since CD and DVD disks cannot be written to without special software, you will only be able to scan this media, not clean it.

Now, we will take another look at the Scanning Actions tab:-

(Click on the picture above for a larger view)

In this picture, we have opened up the drop down box near the top of the window so you can see the three options. What do these options mean? They relate to the places that computer viruses can hide on your PC. "Files" are the files and folders you are use to working with, "Boot sectors" are special areas of your hard disk that allow your computer to start up. "Operating Memory" is your computers RAM, this is the part of the computer that stores the information the computer is currently working on.You don't need to worry too much about what all these options mean, the only thing you need to remember is that you can set individual options for each one. So, if you want to start a fully automatic scan, be sure to change the settings for each option. If you are not confident doing this, just stick with the default settings.

(Click on the picture above for a larger view)

In the picture above we have changed the settings for a fully automatic scan. You may also want to select the tick box marked "Copy to Quarantine".

Finally, we come to the Setup tab:-

(Click on the picture above for a larger view)

This tab has many options in it and can look very intimidating so if you are unsure, just copy the settings from the picture into your copy of NOD and proceed with the computer virus scan. For more information on the options in this tab, please refer to page 44 of the standard install guide for NOD32, which is available from Eset here.

So now everything is set up, there are two ways to start the computer virus scan. "Scan only" or "Scan & Clean". The first option will look for viruses on your chosen target drives, but won't actually do anything about them. This is more useful for scanning read-only media like CD or DVD disks. "Scan & Clean" on the other hand, will automatically perform the action you have chosen in the "Actions" tab.

Now begin your computer virus scan and wait for it to complete. When it has finished you should see something like this in your log window:-

(Click on the picture above for a larger view)

If there are no active threats, press "Quit". If you made changes to the settings as per the tutorial, you should now see the following window appear:-

If you click "Yes" then next time you run a manual computer virus scan the options you set in the Scanning Targets, Scanning Actions and Options tabs will still be set.

If, after using the scan & clean option, NOD reports that there are still active threats, run the scan & clean again. If there are still active threats after this, you may wish to consult a local computer repair company.

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